In general, the present invention relates to an electronic equipment control apparatus, an electronic equipment control method and an electronic equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic equipment control apparatus, an electronic equipment control method and an electronic equipment which improve operability of the electronic equipment control apparatus by requiring no operation to install software for controlling the electronic equipment in the case of a plurality of pieces of such electronic equipment connected to each other and to the electronic equipment control apparatus by communication lines.
In recent years, the personal computer has been becoming popular and is used not only at work places, but also at homes. At many homes, the so-called AV (Audio Visual) equipment such as a television receiver, a cassette deck and a video disk player are also used as well in addition to the personal computer. In such a case, the personal computer is connected to each piece of AV equipment by a home bus, making it possible to control the AV equipment centrally from the personal computer.
As a result, there are more and more cases in which the personal computer is used as a computer generally called an all-in-one computer.
To put it in detail, as shown in FIG. 17, the all-in-one personal computer is configured to have a variety of functions so as to allow the personal computer to be used in a number of applications such as video entertainment, games, multimedia creation, art, graphics, communication and office use.
With a personal computer having an all-in-one configuration as described above, however, there are raised some problems that the configuration becomes complicated and that the cost is increased.
In addition, when the personal computer is connected to newly added AV equipment or a peripheral apparatus, it is necessary to install software or a program for controlling the newly added AV equipment in the personal computer by doing predetermined operations. Thus, the user must have the knowledge to install the software. As a result, there is also raised a problem that a user who does not have such knowledge will not be capable of controlling the newly installed peripheral apparatus from the personal computer.
Furthermore, even a user with the knowledge to install the software must carry out the predetermined operations. Particularly, in the case of a plurality of personal computers connected to a home bus, the predetermined installation operations have to be carried out for each of the personal computers, giving rise to a problem of cumbersome installation work.
On the top of that, even though it is possible to install numerous kinds of software in the personal computer in advance so as to allow the personal computer to be used for controlling a number of external peripheral apparatuses, when the system comprising the personal computer and the peripheral apparatuses is upgraded by sequentially adding new peripheral apparatuses one after another, the versions of the software installed in advance in the personal computer become obsolete, making it no longer possible to control the newly added peripheral apparatuses in some cases. In such a case, it is necessary to install software with most recent versions in the personal computer for the newly added peripheral apparatuses.
In addition, if the software is installed in the personal computer in advance, the maker of the peripheral apparatus is placed under restraint by specifications of the software, giving rise to a problem that it is difficult to build in the originality of the maker of the peripheral apparatus in the peripheral apparatus connected to the personal computer.